3 Ways Ontario, Canada Is Leading the Charge in Mobile Payments

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Canadians Are Getting Used to Tap-and-Go Payments

MasterCard and Visa led the way in introducing contactless NFC payments to Canada in the last couple of years, and the technology is already taking hold with merchants and consumers. MasterCard estimates that 11% of the point of sale card transactions that it processes are made with its PayPass NFC chip tap-and-go cards. PayPass is now accepted at 19 out of Canada's top 25 retailers, Will Giles, MasterCard Canada's SVP of emerging payments, says. And more than 30% of point of sale terminals in Canada are already NFC-equipped.

Ontario residents are also starting to get used to NFC card payments in their transit system. Presto, which provides fare cards for the region's various public transit systems, is also rolling out tap-and-go cards and terminals for transit users, Robert Hollis, Presto's EVP and interim CIO, said.

Now that Canadians are beginning to use tap-and-go payments with their cards, the rails and customer behaviors are being built to move to mobile NFC payments.

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio

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